


The Daily Grind

by alannalaleona



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Oneshot, coffee shop AU, ziam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-23
Updated: 2014-02-23
Packaged: 2018-01-13 13:04:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1227448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alannalaleona/pseuds/alannalaleona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn goes to school, works, and tries to make the prettiest latte art a girl could dream of. Zayn is in a slump until one day, his bus almost runs down the pick me up he just might need. And it's not a latte.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Daily Grind

Zayn tapped his foot impatiently, staring blankly at a projector screen in his least interesting class. He tried to focus, really he did, but his mind kept drifting to other things. The porno he’d watched last night to get to sleep, the cute guy on the city bus that morning, going to work later, and the girl sitting in front of him on her laptop, reading some sort of smutty story. She always did that. Zayn was so bored once, he had tried to read the story with her. He’d gotten as far as, “They wank each other like that, kissing hot and wet and desperate…” before he realized he wouldn’t be very good at hiding a hard on, so he hadn’t really tried again. Zayn didn’t think class was the place for that type of thing, but he really couldn’t judge. Besides, it was fine for her. Girls didn’t have to hide boners. Lucky.

Zayn sighed and chewed on his pencil. It was gross, really, but at least it kept him awake. It was a yellow pencil, not one of those stupid mechanical ones. He hated those, hated the way the lead snapped too much and the way the eraser could be removed. But that meant his pencils typically had bite marks in them. Zayn dreaded the day someone asked to borrow a pencil. 

Zayn started as the girl on the laptop stood up to pack her stuff. Zayn stretched. Class had ended without him realizing it again. He really needed to pay attention next time. He slung his notebook into his pack and walked quickly out of the room, avoiding looking at any of his peers. He couldn’t afford to talk to anyone. If he didn’t catch the first bus out, he was gonna be late to work. 

Zayn caught the bus just in time. He stood, clutching at a strap hanging from the rail, and tried to take stock of his life. School: Check. Three and a half years. Crippling debt: Check. Three and a half years. Job to pay back debt: Check. Time it would take to pay back the debt? Zayn heaved a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. He shoved thoughts of money to the back of his mind and decided to focus on something else.

Something he could think about more immediately was lattes. Every day, Zayn tried to make latte art. it was the only interesting thing he could do. Given that it was his job to make coffee, he figured he may as well try to make it fun. Only, latte art was hard. Zayn didn’t have all the time in the world to practice, nor did he have the right equipment at home. Plus, school kind of cut into his latte art practice. Just a little. Between school and what little social life he allowed himself, he practiced. More often than not, he was just frustrated. The most he’d been able to do so far was create distinguished waves of white in the brown. It didn’t look like a shape, just vague, misty waves. Still, he was pretty proud of himself.

The bus neared Zayn’s stop, so he leaned over and pulled the cord. He heard the familiar screeching sound of the bus stopping and he started walking up toward the front. The driver chose that instant to slam down on the brakes hard, causing Zayn to pitch forward into the seats. He caught himself on a soft, overly patterned seat cushion, and stood up just in time to see the bus driver curse at a guy who had jay walked directly in front of the bus. Zayn ignored the bus driver’s cursing and thanked him, jumping down the stairs.  
Zayn stood for a moment outside the bus and stared at the guy who had almost just gotten flattened by the bus. There was something about him Zayn automatically liked. Maybe it was the way he had waved at the bus driver apologetically, indicating that it was his own fault. Or maybe it was the way the Batman t-shirt he was wearing stretched over his chest, the way his smile sat easily on his face, or the way he looked when he noticed Zayn staring-“Oi, mate, you alright?”  
Zayn started, then smiled in what he hoped was a winning way. 

“Yeah, man,” He said, fishing in his bag for his nametag. “Just spaced out.” 

“Oh, yeah,” said the guy. Zayn was so mesmerized by the way the guy’s lips moved, he almost missed the words coming out of them. “Yeah, I do that all the time. I don’t know if you saw me almost die by bus earlier, but that would be one instance right there.”

Zayn laughed nervously, noticing the way the guy used his hands when he was talking, almost too much, but not quite. Charming. Zayn cleared his throat. He could be charming, too. 

“Well, glad you’re not a road pancake.” The guy laughed. “Nice to meet you….” Zayn trailed off, raising his eyebrows as if asking a question. 

The guy stuck out his hand and shook Zayn’s, saying, “Liam, mate. Nice to meet you.”

Zayn walked into work, almost giddy with relief. He had seemed suave and smooth out there. And, to make things even better, the guy, no, Liam, had said he would try to stop by Zayn’s work sometime. They had actually carried out a pretty lengthy conversation (mostly pleasantries), until Zayn had said he had to go to work, and gestured to the coffee shop to their right. That was when Liam said he’d stop by one day. Zayn hugged his book bag. He was now even more determined to perfect latte art. And it had to be before Liam dropped in. Zayn hurried to put his stuff away. He had a lot of practicing to do. 

Two hours later, Zayn was descending into despair. The more he thought about it, the less sure he was that Liam would ever stop by. Zayn kept going over their conversation, wondering whether Liam had just tried to be nice, or if he would actually come by the coffee shop. Zayn had thought about it, but nothing seemed to indicate his intentions. Except for the fact that he said he would. Zayn remembered the golden honey brown color of Liam’s eyes. He hummed to himself, mesmerized by the creamy espresso that suddenly seemed the same color as the flecks in Liam’s eyes. 

Zayn shook his head and frowned. Hell, he’d only met the guy once. How could he even be sure that that’s what Liam’s eyes actually looked like?  
“Well,” Came a voice from behind him, “Someone’s in a mood today.” Perrie leaned in and looked at Zayn’s pitcher full of foamed milk. “I’d bang that one a bit more,” She said. “’S got too many bubbles.”

Zayn tried to smile back at her, but it turned into a grimace. He sighed. 

“Having trouble with your latte art, or is it something else?” 

Zayn sighed even deeper. Perrie was his best friend, and somehow she knew whenever something was going on with him. He must have a really readable face. Either that or Perrie was a fucking genius. He wouldn’t doubt either. He might as well tell her. 

“So.” Perrie said, stretching out her legs. They were on break in the back room, seated on leather stools, spinning from side to side. “You basically fell in love with the idea of a guy this morning and now you’re determined to learn how to make a heart out of foam and espresso on the off chance he shows up and notices the heart and then immediately falls in love with you. Is that about right?”

Zayn shifted, uncomfortable, “Yeea- I mean no, but essentially, yeah?”

Perrie laughed, ruffling Zayn’s hair. Zayn’s hands automatically went back up to try to fix it. (Yeah, he was a little vain, so what?) “You’ve been watching either too much porn or too many Disney movies. Either way, Zayn, my little pain in the butt best friend, you’ve gotta realize that’s like a fantasy scenario.”

“Yeah,” Zayn said, smiling, his voice plaintive, “I do, but…it seemed right, you know? It seemed like something thousands of people would blog about, or put our names together like “Layn” or something, you know? You know?”

Zayn could see Perrie’s forehead wrinkle with worry, but when she looked at him to address her concern, she saw the joke in his face. 

Zayn burst out laughing. “I’m just kidding, Per.” He ruffled her bangs and laughed when she stuck her tongue out at him. “Thanks for getting me out of my funk.” He kissed the top of her head. “Let’s go work for once, shall we?” 

 

Two Days Later

 

Zayn fell asleep in class with his pencil in his mouth. He woke up with slobber all over his desk just as everyone else was leaving the room. Zayn sighed, pocketing the wet pencil.  
“Well, here’s to another day,” He muttered, stuffed his things into his book bag hurriedly, and ran out of the room. He checked his watch. 12:14 blinked back up at him and he cursed, sure he had missed his bus. 

He had. Feeling like a piece of shit, Zayn knew he didn’t have any other choice but to hoof it all the way to the coffee shop. He called Perrie on the way, huffing into the phone, “Hey, Per, let them know I’m gonna be about half an hour late, would you? I missed my bus.” 

“Alright,” He heard back through the other end, “But you owe me a drink later.” 

“A drink later,” He promised, and hung up the phone. 

When Zayn neared the coffee shop, he saw the spot where he had talked to Liam. He sighed a little unhappily, sure that nothing good was ever gonna happen to him again. Sure, that was a little melodramatic, but today wasn’t going too well, and he’d had a rough week already. This last year of college was kicking his ass. 

Zayn opened the door and almost barreled into someone. He turned around to apologize, and his heart skipped a beat. There he was. Liam, his eyes the color of a rich, warm shot of espresso. Just like Zayn had thought. Liam smiled at Zayn and suddenly Zayn remembered he had a voice  
.  
“Liam! Mate, how are you?” Zayn said between puffs of breath. “Sorry, I just had to run to work. Missed my bus.” 

“Oh,” Liam said, curling his hand around Zayn’s bicep and pulling him away from the door. “I guess that’s why you weren’t here to make me coffee. I have to say, I was disappointed, but I got a nice one from that young lady.” Liam waved in the direction of Perrie, and she waved back, smirking at Zayn.

“I asked her about you,” Liam continued, “And she said you were on your way. I was really sorry I missed you.”

“Well,” Zayn said, finally catching his breath, “I’m here now, but since you have a coffee already, how about we just go out for drinks tonight?” Zayn held in his breath. He couldn’t believe he had just made such a risky move, but he was filled with adrenaline from running to work. And he had Liam, Liam with his tight shirt and beautiful eyes right in front of him and he just couldn’t pass up the only chance he might get.

Liam’s eyes widened, his mouth open in surprise, but then it smoothed out and his eyes crinkled. “Yeah, I’d really like that. Will you hold my coffee?”  
Zayn was too stunned to do anything but nod. 

“Oh, and hey, do you have a pen?” 

Zayn nodded again and reached in his pocket, pulling out the chewed up pencil. He grimaced, but Liam had already seen and was reaching out for the pencil.  
“Oh, man, you chew on this?” Liam joked good naturedly, his smile easy, his eyes warm. He chuckled and wrote down his phone number. “Here.” He said, sticking the paper in Zayn’s shirt pocket. He leaned in and whispered, “And maybe we can do something with that oral fixation.” Zayn turned bright red. 

Liam winked. “I expect a call tonight!” He called over his shoulder. “I’ll see you later, Zayn.” 

Zayn stood there, stunned, and pulled the phone number out of his front pocket. He smiled hugely, then looked at Perrie with excitement. She rolled her eyes.  
“I heard that.” Perrie laughed, coming over to him and flinging her arm around his shoulder. “You realize I’m not gonna let you forget about that oral thing, don’t you?”  
Zayn huffed, making a face at her. But as they walked away, Zayn smiled. He wouldn’t want to forget that anyway. 

 

ONE YEAR LATER

 

Zayn walked into the coffee shop. He kind of missed it now that he wasn’t required to come here every day. “Hey, Per!” He called, waving at her. She was with a customer and vaguely waved back. Zayn walked back behind the counter and started making himself a coffee. Since he had worked here so long, they still let him in the back to make his own coffees. He always did unless Perrie was making them. The ones he made were better than everyone’s (even Perrie’s), but he wouldn’t tell Perrie that for the world. 

“Hey, babe.” 

Zayn brightened when he heard Liam’s voice. “Hey! I’m almost done, and then we can go sit down. You wanna get a table?”

Liam reddened. “No, I actually like watching you make coffee. You look good doing it. Well, you look good doing whatever, but I like watching.” 

Zayn smiled, meeting Liam’s gaze. “Okay, I’ll be just a second.” He poured the milk in to the cup. “Voila! There we are.”  
Zayn brought out their coffee, and Liam looked down at it, smiling happily. There were hearts in the foam. 

 

Fin.

**Author's Note:**

> Hooray! Rejoice for sexual innuendos. And for coffee AUs, I suppose. I wrote this because my sister loves one direction and I mostly love them and I am having a hard time creating latte art. No, I don't need tips, I'm well on my way. This is my first one direction fic out of many. I think they will get steadily better as I go on.  
> The quote I used from that girl's laptop is from an actual fic by sophieisgod, you should go read it! It's amazing. LINK: http://archiveofourown.org/works/1179277  
> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.  
> Extra thanks for my wonderful sister Danya, who beta'd and squeed over this first. 
> 
> author's blog (doesn't contain much 1d stuff): toboldlyfaux.tumblr.com  
> beta's blog: ziamlegend.tumblr.com


End file.
